Martin to open SU speaker series

The 2009-10 Chancellor’s Lecture Series kicks off Wednesday with nationally syndicated columnist Roland Martin.
Martin will speak at the Royal Cotillion Ballroom of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union. The event is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. the event is free and open to the public.
Martin, a Houston native, is syndicated with Creators Syndicate. He is a commentator for TV One Cable Network and host of “Washington Watch with Roland Martin, a one-hour Sunday morning news show. He is also a CNN Analyst, appearing on a variety of shows. In October 2008, he joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior ana-lyst.
According to Martin’s web site, Ebony Magazine listed him as one of the United States’ 150 most influential African-Americans in 2008. He received the 2009 NAACP Image Award for Best Interview for “In Conversation: The Michelle Obama Interview.” He won the award in 2008 in the same category for his interview with then-Sen. Barack Obama.
Martin, named one of the top 50 political pundits by the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom, was also awarded the 2008 President’s Award by the National Association of Black Journalists for his work in multiple media platforms. In 2008, he was also inducted into the Texas A&M University Journalism Hall of Honor.
He has won more than 30 professional awards for journalistic excellence, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television News Directors; top reporting honors from NABJ the National Association of Minorities in Cable and the National Associated Press-Managing Editors Conference.